Partners
by Kylni
Summary: During the night at the beginning of ep. 22 (Alternative), Wolfwood and Vash have a discussion with the aid of darkness and far too little alcohol.


Title: Partners

Summary:  During the night at the beginning of ep. 22 (Alternative), Wolfwood and Vash have a discussion with the aid of darkness and far too little alcohol.

"You're brooding again, Tongari.  Didn't I tell you to stop that?"

Vash looked up from his silent study of the mostly-empty whiskey bottle.  "Yes.  But I can't.  Have people become so afraid that they won't let a group of children into their town?"

"When faced with something they can't comprehend, people will do anything to try to stay safe.  You should know that."  Wolfwood picked up the bottle and swirled the contents before taking a gulp and setting it back on the table.

"I do.  But that doesn't mean I have to like it."  Vash stood and walked to the window.  He leaned forward, hands on the sill, and gazed into the blackness, but he couldn't see anything in the dark.

Wolfwood stood too, and walked to just behind where Vash stood, and gazed outside as well.  He wondered what Vash expected to see.  He sighed and turned, leaning against the wall next to the window.  "No one likes it, Tongari.  It's just the way things are.  Don't beat yourself up over it.  It's not your fault."

Vash closed his eyes and was silent for a moment.  "Maybe it is," he whispered.  He turned around and slumped to the floor, where he lay motionless for a moment before being pulled roughly up by Wolfwood.  He opened his eyes in shock and saw the priest's dark eyes blazing from a few inches away.

"Stop.  Just stop it!  Who are you to blame yourself for human nature?"

Vash's eyes narrowed.  "Who are you to just judge and dismiss the human race like that?!"  _Who is Knives to do that?_ he added mentally.

Wolfwood's eyes widened and guilt flashed in his eyes before he looked determinedly at the floor.  "No one.  I'm no one."  He released Vash to stand precariously on his own, and went back to sit in a chair by the table.  Vash blinked.

"You're not no one.  You're Nicholas D. Wolfwood, and you're my friend."  The black-clad man didn't look up from his staring contest with the packed earth floor.  "You are… Nicholas," Vash tried.  That got a reaction.  Wolfwood looked up slowly, and his eyes were eerily empty of emotion.

"Don't call me that.  Everyone who has used that name has only caused me pain.  And not all of them are dead yet."  The priest's eyes flashed, and there was no doubt that he would be happy to remedy that situation.

"I really wish you wouldn't talk about killing people so easily."  Vash received a look that told him this was nothing new.  "But what do you mean?  Who has called you Nicholas?"

Wolfwood just looked at Vash for what seemed like forever.  But eventually he could to nothing to counter the effect those clear, expressive eyes had, looking at him with curiosity.  He knew he hadn't told, couldn't tell Vash much about himself, but this much couldn't hurt, could it?  Finally, he sighed and took a swig from the bottle before handing it to Vash, who took it without comment.

"The first was my guardian, before he died."  Wolfwood said, his voice cold as ice.  "The second was my mentor, who raised me and trained me from the time I was seven."  From the sound of his voice, Vash could tell the "training" wasn't simply in the priesthood, though Wolfwood didn't elaborate.  "Not just them, though.  Every one who wants to cause me pain uses my first name, like they know to, somehow."  Wolfwood trailed off for a moment.  "It shouldn't bother me this much, I know, but it does."

"The man who ran the Quick Draw Tournament called you Nicholas."  Vash said with an air of surprise and dawning comprehension.

"That was more than two years ago.  Why would you remember that?"  Wolfwood said, and then shook his head.  "Never mind.  You would remember."  He looked up at Vash, and the bottle held motionless in his hand.  "Are you going to finish that, or am I going to have to do everything for you?"

Vash blinked once before realizing what Wolfwood was talking about, then gulped down the last of the bottle before handing it back.  Wolfwood stared for a moment at the rim of the empty bottle as if it held the secrets of the universe.  Then turned and set it back on the table.

"Wolfwood is a fine name.  Just keep calling me that.  Just that."

"I will."  Vash said, and smiled a heart-achingly sad smile.

_Will you?_ thought Wolfwood.  _Will you, when you know who I really am?_

Vash's smile faded, and Wolfwood, his mind fogged with sleep and alcohol, panicked for a second, afraid Vash had heard his thought.  Then reason intruded, and he tried once again to pull Vash out of his melancholy mood.

"Come on now, Tongari," he said, and winced; he sounded forced and much too loud even to himself.  "I've never seen you so out of it when you've so recently gotten donuts out of the short girl.  You acted fine earlier."

"Well, the girls worked hard, and the kids needed to see a happy face," said Vash.  "But you have been able to see through that since the first time we met, Wolfwood."

_Tongari.  It's not fair, that so many bad things happen to such a good person.  I want to see you happy_.  Wolfwood mused.  Vash looked up, surprised, and he realized he had spoken aloud.

"You deserve to be happy, too, Wolfwood."  Vash said.  "You don't need to come with me, you know."

"I have to, Tongari.  There's no where else I can be."  Wolfwood let the statement hang.  He was no longer worried about revealing too much.  At some point they had both stopped worrying about things like that.

"And there's only one place I can go.  To him."  Said Vash, resigned.  He never said "Knives" to Wolfwood, but Wolfwood never asked who "he" was.  The unspoken agreement left many questions unanswered, but Vash never asked, and Wolfwood would not have told him if he did.

"So that's it then."

"I guess so."

"I wish it could have been another way, Tongari."

"So do I."

Unshed tears shone in Vash's eyes.

They just stared into each other's eyes for a long time.  Finally, Wolfwood stood, and dimmed the light.  And he moved back to his chair, Vash spoke.

"Wolfwood?"

"Yeah, Tongari?"

"We're partners, right?"

Wolfwood looked at the Vash-shaped blob in the darkness as if it held answers.

"I think so, Tongari.  I think we're the closest things to partners either of us will ever find."

And with that, they slept.


End file.
